


In Which Steve Does as Peggy Asks

by halwen



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Not!Fic, Podfic Welcome, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 14:06:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4140564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halwen/pseuds/halwen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Ok, but what if Steve had done as Peggy asked, and told her his coordinates instead of saying goodbye? What if Howard's arctic expeditions had had more to work with? What if they had found him just over seven months later, instead of nearly seventy years?</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Which Steve Does as Peggy Asks

Ok, but what if Steve had done as Peggy asked, and told her his coordinates instead of saying goodbye? What if Howard's arctic expeditions had had more to work with? What if they had found him just over seven months later, instead of nearly seventy years?

Howard throws himself into combing the area exhaustively for the plane, writes the coordinates on every surface in every medium, some part of himself terrified that he'll forget them. Peggy has no such worries – she wakes in the night sometimes, Steve's last words ringing in her ears.

They do find him, just over seven months later. Howard calls her in a panic, wakes her in the middle of the night to tell her, and Peggy is selfishly glad that Angie is still working because she needs a little time to process this, that Steve is finally coming home.

Howard says he might have survived. She doesn't allow herself to hope.

He did survive, though. They weren't sure until they actually warmed him back up, but then he was up and walking and talking and asking for her and Peggy was so happy she couldn't breathe.

They did get their dance, that evening. And the week after, and after.

It wasn't always easy. It was rarely easy, in fact. Dead heroes can be immortalized and trotted out when wished for; live heroes have their own agendas. Steve survived countless assassination attempts, from powers both domestic and otherwise. Peggy survived them too, but she lost her right leg below the knee to a car crash in '52, while Steve was speaking out against McCarthy.

Howard, who had danced with Maria at their wedding, made her a prosthetic that allowed her to dance almost as well as she had before.

Almost. She rarely wore it, because while it was incredibly nimble, it had a tendency to spark at awkward times, and more than one of her skirts now had carefully patched scorch marks. She wore a wooden leg instead, and developed her marksmanship until she was the best shot in the S.S.R.

Years and years later, Nick would tell her about one of his agents, a troublesome young archer who had been sent to deal with a rogue assassin and had instead come back with her in tow, like some sort of mongrel cat. She would remember all the time she spent on the range, how it both tunneled and expanded your vision, and suggested that he give the mongrel a chance. She would follow Natasha's case, when she had a chance, and wonder about this woman. Sometimes, when she thought about Natasha, she remembered Dottie. And she would grieve.


End file.
